Maurice Gainen here. My studio, Maurice Gainen Productions (what else?) was profiled by Matt Gallagher in the Mix July ‘07 edition. NAMM is awesome….I’ve been here almost every year for about 20 years. I recommend coming on Thursday first thing as it is empty and you can get maximum face time with all the reps, tech people and any of the many stars haniging out that you may run into. Highlight for me was running into Stevie Wonder and getting a picture. Other cool things: Mix publication Electronic Musician has been re-designed and looks great. Cool gear and software: Waves, Fishman “Aura” acoustic guitar shound shaping boxes, Guitar Rig 3, ProTools 7.4 “Elastic time”, Melodyne and Serrato Pitch ‘n Time. Nice live performances all over the floor. Free champagne and DJ jam 5:00 everyday at Propellerhead (Reason). Saturday is cool for networking and seeing old friends………it’s packed and loud, a real party. Final word: The gear is GREAT!! It’s up to us to make great music. Therein lies the challenge…have a good one! www.mauricegainen.com
Twelve years ago, Steinberg introduced the VST platform. And today we got a look at VST3, the most stable VST platform ever. New in VST3….CPU effeiciency: now, processing plug-ins only kick in when signal is present. VST plug-ins will no longer be limited to a fixed number of I/Os, and their I/O configuration can dynamically adapt to the channel configuration they’re inserted in. The interface can deactivate unused buses after loading and reactivate when needed. Other features include resizable edit windows (yay!), sample-accurate automation and a kabillion other cool things. The SDK will be available as a free technology, open for developers…
It’s 10am and I think I’ve already seen 4, 227 products. The behemoth that is Digidesign just finished their press conference, and between Digi, M-Audio, Sibelius and the other partners in the group, there were new products for every market segment, ranging from Pro Tools upgrades to music apps for schoolkids.
Prez Dave Lebolt talked about the company’s breadth of products that now reach everyone from entry-level to top-end, giving customers options to upgrade all the way as they grow. The big push at this show is music creation: Pro Tools 7.4, for example, features a hot new tool called Elastic Audio, which lets users time stretch and fit vocals, drums, etc, without compromising sound quality. Speaking of Elastic Audio, don’t miss our hot Power Tools tips column next month, to learn more about this powerful tool.
They also showed a new Virtual Instruments “Box set,” offering a bunch of VI plug-ins, at a $400 discount. We also checked out the MBox 2 micro, a portable PT LE solution on a USB key. The Mbox 2 mini is also sold in Digi’s new entry-level Pro Tools Presonal Studio bundles, featuring PT LE, plug-ins, and a bunch of other goodies, starting at $495. M-Audio showed their flagship new Profile 2626 firewire I/O, with 26 ins and out and an onboard DSP mixer. Check it out-it’s sweet…
We also checked out Venue updates, Sibelius upgrades, headphones, speakers, digital console pianos and more.
And for the entry ENTRY level, Sibelius’ Groovy app lets kids age 5 and up place sound modules in a cool animated environment, and even compose…
After all that, I missed the Torque after-party press conference, but Markkus from Remix is on deck to tell you all about it…
The Bus, EM's editorial blog, features posts from all the EM editors on topics related to gear, recording techniques and much more. It's also home to posts from a selected group of guest bloggers.
